Watering a Lawn

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Michael S.

October 12, 2016 04:48

I just installed a Rainmachine HD-12 for my home in San Jose, CA to control irrigation in the front and backyards.

My first question is how to setup for watering the front lawn?  I read to program the unit as if watering during a hot week in summer, but I don't really know what that means.  I figure that 40 minutes/week is the max I want to water the lawn each week, even in summer (the water bills in Santa Clara county are bad even at that rate).

Can I just set it at 20 minutes twice a week and let the unit adjust the amount the rest of the year?  I suppose I will try this and just see what happens - if the lawn starts showing stress will bump it up a little.

Also, does the Rainmachine have a different watering formula for lawns, say versus bushes/drip irrigation?  Or are there settings that should be adjusted according to what is being watered to help it do a better job?

Thanks!

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  Chris October 14, 2016 07:43 (Edited October 14, 2016 07:46)

  Hi, Michael

  What I've done in your scenario is to ENABLE (if they were not by default) the "Weather data" and "Historical averages" from each zone I used in my program and also the "Weather data" option from the program properties. This way the watering times I set up will be affected by the smart calculation the RainMachine would do. Set your program frequency to Weekdays and select those two days you'll want to water twice a week, set the start time and then go to the zones and choose the ones you would like to use and add the time. Then save the program and forget it :) 

  The answer to the second question is that you can use "beta" updates for your device and there you'll find all the fine tuning for each zone, but there are in beta state, so bugs may appear. To enable beta updates I used the web interface and I go to Settings - System Settings  and enable the Beta Quality Updates than go and see if there are any updates available for your device on About screen. There should be one and if you're agree to use Beta, than install it on your device.

  The only drawback for now is that the only interface updated to work with beta software is the web interface.

  Thanks.

  C.

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